Rise of the Timberwolf
by AlchemyWriter
Summary: Rewrite of Howl of the Wolf, Bite of the Tiger. When his parents die in an accident, Matthew Agreste travels to Paris to stay with his uncle Gabriel and his cousin Adrien. When he arrives, he is given the opportunity to help in the fight against the supervillains that attack the city. But is he ready to take it?
1. The Letters

**Hello, my wonderful readers! I apologize for my month and a half of absence, but I haven't been feeling the writing bug until now. In truth, this is actually a rewrite of my first fanfiction story, which I wrote in collaboration with my sister, WhatASurprise. Here is the link to the original story: **

s/12611739/1/Howl-of-the-Wolf-Bite-of-the-Tiger

**Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir. Is owned by Zagtoon, Method Animation, and Thomas Astruc. I own nothing but my own OC.**

It all started with two letters.

Gabriel Agreste looked at the letter in his hands. It was from America, and he recognized the town as the one where his brother lived. He and Tomas had fallen out long ago, though both had visited to allow their sons to play together when they were younger. Perhaps Tomas was trying to rebuild their own connection. He opened the letter.

"_Dear Mr. Gabriel Agreste. We regret to inform you that your brother Tomas Agreste and his wife, Jessica Agreste, were killed in a boating accident. In their wills, they have named you as the one to care for their son, Matthew Agreste, age 13. You will be responsible for his wellbeing until he is a legal adult._

_Sincerely,_

_Adam Calente, Attorney"_

Gabriel sighed as he looked over the letter again. After Felix had stolen his ring and caused akuma victims to attack Adrien, he was wary of his own family, whether they were related by blood or were his in-laws. However, as he turned to look at the portrait of his wife behind him, he came to a decision.

_Emilie would want this. She'd want him here. Tomas and Jessica would do the same for Adrien, if the roles were reversed. Besides…_

Breaking out of his thoughts, the fashion designer called for his assistant.

"Nathalie!"

Nathalie stepped into the room. "Yes, sir?"

"I need you to make preparations to bring my nephew here."

Nathalie blinked. "You want to bring Felix-"

"No. My brother's son Matthew. He's not like Felix."

"Are you sure, sir? Having him here-"

"Emilie would have wanted me to take care of him. I think that it would also do Adrien some good to see him again."

Nathalie nodded. "Yes sir. I'll see to it immediately." She exited the room, returning to her desk to arrange for transportation. Gabriel watched her go, before looking back at Emilie's portrait. _I know that you never understood why I didn't get along with my brother, Emilie, but regardless, I'll honor his wishes._

-ML-

"Marinette! Come downstairs! There's a letter for you!"

Marinette heard her parents call her name and stood up from her desk.

"I'll be right down!"

As she walked towards the stairs, a small red-and-black-spotted being whizzed over to her. This was Marinette's Kwami, Tikki.

"What do you think the letter is, Marinette?"

"I don't know, Tikki. My friends would have just sent me a text, I haven't ordered anything recently. It's a mystery."

As Marinette reached the bottom of the steps, Tikki hid in her purse, to avoid being seen by her parents.

"Marinette, there you are. Do you know who sent this? It's all the way from Tibet."

Immediately, Marinette realized what the letter must be about. She fumbled for an explanation.

"Oh, uh, it's, it's a, uh, it's a thing for school! We were assigned a pen pal from another school in another country, and my pen pal is in Tibet!"

Her father chuckled. "Oh, alright, that explains it. You'll probably want to read what they have to say, don't you?"

He handed the letter to her, and Marinette returned to her room. Tikki flew out of her purse as she did. The two of them looked at the seal on the back of the envelope.

"Why do you think the guardians at the monastery want to talk to me, Tikki?"

Her Kwami didn't reply. Marinette had a feeling that Tikki was just as confused as she was. Opening the letter, they began to read.

_Dear Marinette Dupain-Cheng,_

_Shortly after we were brought back after the defeat of the sentimonster, Master Fu contacted us, telling us that he planned to make you a Guardian in the event that something happened to him. As this has come to pass, we write to you to inform you of something that Fu may not have known. There are still Miraculous users in the world, working from the shadows to protect the world. One of these heroes, the holder of the Wolf Miraculous, recently lost his life. We recovered the Miraculous, and humbly ask that you pass it on to a new holder, as the Miraculous cannot be out of circulation for too long. It is up to you._

_Sincerely, _

_The Order of Guardians_

Marinette set down the letter, surprised. Noticing a bulge in the envelope, she tipped it over to find a small box, perfect for carrying a Miraculous.

"So you need to find a new holder for the Wolf Miraculous, Marinette?"

"Yeah, it looks like it. What can you tell me about the Wolf Kwami, Tiki?"

Tikki, bowed her head in thought, before raising it again.

"Well, his name is Scruff, and he's very sympathetic. If someone is feeling bad, he'll try everything possible to cheer them up. He's also pretty serious and doesn't get distracted that easily." Marinette frowned, before setting the box in her desk drawer.

"It's going to take a while to find a good holder for this, Tikki. From what the letter said, it sounds like I'll need to let the holder keep the Miraculous all the time, like Chat Noir and I do."

Tikki nodded. "You'll find the right person eventually, though, Marinette. I believe in you."

"Thanks, Tikki."

-ML-

Halfway across the planet, a thirteen-year-old boy sat outside of an office. He had blonde hair and green eyes, though they were red from crying. As he sat, he played with the strap of a camera hanging around his neck. The boy looked up as the office door opened.

"Good news, Matt! I just spoke to your uncle in Paris, and he's agreed to take care of you.

Matthew blinked in surprise.

"Uncle Gabe?"

"Yes! He's arranging for you to be flown to Paris tomorrow evening. You'll need to make sure that you have everything that you'll need before you go. I'll drive you back to. Your house so that you can get started." Matthew Agreste nodded as he turned back to his camera. He remembered the fun times that he'd had with his family in Paris. He hoped that he could have that again someday.

**And that's a wrap on chapter 1. An issue that I have with writing this story is that my sister had her own OC that was also involved with the story at this time. Maybe eventually, her OC will be introduced, and until then, I'll make sure that this story is good. Please review or PM me with what you think of this chapter. Until the next chapter!**


	2. Arrival in Paris

**Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Rise of the Timberwolf. Before I begin this chapter, I wanted to direct you to my sister, WhatASurprise, because she has begun writing a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction that shares a universe with mine. The story is called Still Standing, and stars my sister's OC. We plan to join the stories into a joint story eventually but want to flesh out our characters a bit first. With that said, let's get to it!**

**I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. However, Matthew Agreste is my OC.**

Matt walked through the airport, searching for the baggage claim. He didn't really pay attention to the people around him, the only source of his focus was the camera that he carried with him. He fiddled with the camera's strap as he walked, looking at the signs for directions. He passed the security checkpoint, and was about to keep walking, when he heard a voice.

"Matt!"

The boy in question turned to see his cousin and his uncle's assistant, as well as a large man who kind of looked like a gorilla. Adrien was the one who had spoken.

"There you are! We've been waiting for you!"

Matt looked around for his uncle, but didn't see him.

"Where's Uncle Gabe?"

Adrien sighed and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Father was too busy to come. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you beforehand. He's been by himself a lot lately. Actually, I think that Nathalie. Has seen him more in the past year than I have."

Matt nodded silently. He'd forgotten that Adrien's mother, his aunt Emilie, had gone missing. Adrien knew better than a lot of people how he was feeling, so he didn't let the hurt that Gabriel wasn't there show.

"Okay. Uh, are we going to the baggage claim? I still need to get my things."

The four headed over to the baggage claim, with the large man picking up Matt's suitcase and handing it to him. As they walked towards the customs desk, he started fiddling with his camera strap again.

Adrien noticed this.

"You like photography?"

Matt gave a small smile at that.

"Yeah, when I was in middle school, I joined the student newspaper. I got interested in photography when they told me to get some photos. When I talked about how much I enjoyed it at home, Mom and Dad… Well, they bought me my camera. I was so happy."

Adrien grinned.

"There's a friend of mine at school, Alya. She's something of a journalist, with her blog. She gets all the information herself. I think that you two would get along."

"While I'd love to meet all of your friends, I'm not into journalism. The school newspaper was less about telling the news than it was about gossip. The editor would have probably had me spy on people at home if it got people to read the paper. I hope Alya's blog isn't like that."

"No, Alya is kind of an investigative journalist. Her blog is all about Ladybug and Chat Noir, and their exploits in saving Paris from akuma villains and sentimonsters."

Matt was confused, and Adrien saw this immediately. He didn't realize HOW confused. He was, until Matt spoke again.

"Who are Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"Ladybug and Chat Noir? They're Paris's superheroes! They've been on the news tons of times! How don't you know who they are?"

Matt gave Adrien a helpless shrug as customs officials checked over his luggage before waving them through.

"I've never heard of them. Seriously though? Real superheroes? Are you messing with me?"

Adrien smiled. He could see Matt was starting to brighten up with all the talk of superheroes. He began to explain to him as Nathalie and the Gorilla led the way out of the airport and back to the car outside.

"Well, Ladybug and Chat Noir are superheroes in Paris, like I said. Ladybug has a power called Lucky Charm, which gives her one random object that she has to find a way to use against the villain she's fighting. When she defeats the villain, she throws the object into the air and shouts, 'Miraculous Ladybug', which repairs all the damage caused in the fighting."

"Cool. But, why doesn't the Lucky Charm just turn into a weapon for Ladybug to fight with?"

"It's random. She has no control over what the Lucky Charm is. She has to improvise when she gets it."

"Now, as for Chat Noir, he's sort of the opposite. Chat's power is called Cataclysm, which destroys anything he touches. And, before you ask why he doesn't just use it on the villain, could you honestly say that you could use it on a person willingly?"

"I wasn't going to ask that. Superheroes don't normally kill the villain. Unless it's the Incredibles. Or Superman 2. Or Man of Steel. Or the 1989 Batman movie. Or any Marvel movie. Actually, superheroes kill a LOT of villains in the movies. But anyway, what else about Chat Noir?"

"He's a jokester, which balances out Ladybug being serious. Don't get me wrong, she's not like Batman, but it's like comparing Superman to Plastic Man. One is confident but also can let loose, the other makes jokes on the battlefield. And, between you and me, I think that they would make a cute couple."

Matt chuckled at that, and Adrien grinned. The more he kept his cousin's spirits up, the less likely that Papillion or Mayura could take advantage of his grief.

"So what kind of villains do they fight?"

Ah, the serious issue. Adrien got ready to explain.

"The thing is, most of the supervillains that Ladybug and Chat Noir fight aren't really evil. The real supervillains are called Le Papillion and Mayura. Whenever someone in Paris feels really strong negative emotions, Papillion sends out these little black butterflies called akumas, which allows him to manipulate the person into getting revenge for the wrong done to them, so long as they bring him Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses."

"The what now?"

"They're magic jewelry that Ladybug and Chat Noir wear, and what gives them their powers. Ladybug's are her earrings, and Chat Noir's is his ring. Ladybug gave Alya an interview once and explained that. Papillion and Mayura also seem to have Miraculouses of their own, but we don't know what they are, because they don't come out very much."

"What are Mayura's powers?"

"They're similar to Papillion's powers. She uses dark feathers called amucks to feed off of people's negative emotions, but instead of turning the person into a supervillain, it creates something called a sentimonster. Sometimes, Papillion and Mayura will combine their powers and create an akuma villain with a sentimonster under their control. That happened to another friend of mine, Juleka, once. She'd been akumatized into a villain once before, and when it happened a second time, Mayura gave her a sentimonster to give her an advantage. I won't tell you any more about that though. People don't really remember what happens when they are akumatized, and most of the kids in my class are really casual about when they were. Still, it's Juleka's story to tell, not mine."

Matt was quiet for a moment.

"Have you ever been akumatized?"

Adrien was caught a bit off guard at that.

"Have I? No. But most of the kids in my class have, and I've probably been at-risk of akumatization in the past, but I never actually was. Father was though, and my bodyguard at one point."

Matt nodded. It was at that point that Adrien noticed that they were close to home. He pointed this out to Matt, and the two got ready to leave the car. As they did, Adrien glanced back over at Matt. With any luck, he could help him recover from his loss.

**And, scene! Bit of a filler chapter, with some backstory for Matt. My headcanon for the Miraculous Ladybug universe is that the events of the show aren't known outside of France, so as not to affect tourism, which is why Matt doesn't know who Ladybug and Chat Noir are. I do apologize that I didn't write more than just a conversation between Adrien and Matt, but I'm having to work around the scenes from the original story that had my sister's OC in them. Things will pick up eventually, though, and THAT is something that I already have some plans for. Until the next chapter!**


	3. Meeting Gabriel

**Hello, readers, welcome back to Rise of the Timberwolf. I'm sorry for the long break in between chapters, but I had little motivation to write when so few of you left reviews. I enjoy writing these stories, but what is the point of me writing them if you don't let me know if you like them? Anyway, I'm trying to build up to the first action scene without my sister's OC to help with the story structure. I'll do my best to keep updates more frequent, though, as long as you guys let me know what you liked, what you don't like, and what I can improve on. I welcome constructive criticism. Now then, on with the story!**

**I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. I do, however, own my OC, so don't touch him!**

The two boys walked towards the mansion, Adrien in the lead with Matt following behind. The teen model decided to give his cousin some warning before he was disappointed.

"Since Mom…disappeared, Father's been really distant and closed off to everyone. Even I barely see him. So, don't be surprised if he doesn't seem very excited to see you, he's like that with everyone. Also, Aunt Amelie and Felix visited recently, and Felix stole Father's wedding ring."

The younger boy blinked.

"He did? Why?"

Adrien shrugged.

"He was upset that we didn't come to his dad's funeral. He acted out against me, too, by impersonating me and trying to turn my friends against me. At least _that _mess was cleared up fairly quickly."

"So, Uncle Gabe is upset that I'm here?"

"Upset isn't really the right word. I'm sure that he's happy to see you again, he just doesn't like to be distracted from his work. Also, you should probably stop calling him 'Gabe.' It wouldn't sound very professional to him."

Matt nodded as they entered the mansion. Nathalie guided them towards the stairs, before leaving to presumably inform Gabriel. Adrien led the other two upstairs.

"Come on, I'll show you your bedroom."

With the Gorilla following them, Adrien led Matt to a bedroom that was just down the hall from his own room. He opened the door to reveal a bedroom that, while not as large as his room, was still a good size. Adrien turned to gauge Matt's reaction.

"What do you think?"

Matt was speechless as he entered the room, taking in just how much space there was inside. Adrien spoke again.

"I know you had to leave most of your stuff in America, so Father will arrange to have them shipped over soon. We can figure out how to decorate it later. Okay?"

"Sure."

Nathalie entered the room as the Gorilla set down Matt's luggage.

"Adrien. Your father would like to speak to you and Matthew in the atelier."

Adrien straightened slightly at the mention of his father.

"Thanks, Nathalie. We'll see him in a minute."

-Line Break-

Gabriel stood in the atelier, looking at Emilie's portrait. As the boys entered, he turned to face them. His face betrayed no emotion to them.

"Matthew, it's good to see you again."

Matt didn't respond. He just looked at the floor, clearly uncomfortable from Gabriel's gaze.

"I was sorry to hear about your parents. Your father and I weren't on the best of terms, but I do still miss him."

Matt nodded.

"Thank you, Uncle Gabriel."

Adrien spoke up.

"Father, maybe we could take Matt someplace fun to help get his spirits up and help. Him recover. He could also get reacquainted with Paris that way. It's been years since he was last here, after all."

Gabriel's face didn't change.

"Perhaps when your schedule has some time free, that can be arranged."

Adrien perked up at that.

"Where would you want to go, Matt?"

Matt seemed to brighten slightly. At least, he seemed less uncomfortable that he was before.

"Maybe Disneyland Paris? I haven't been there before, and I've heard about Frontierland and the Phantom Manor from a friend."

"Perhaps."

Matt grinned. He'd been a little nervous about seeing his uncle again, especially after what Adrien had said, but while Gabriel seemed stricter than he was before, he was at least allowing for the possibility of the trip. Adrien gave him a grin, before Gabriel spoke again.

"Before you both go, there are a few things that I'd like to explain. Matthew, you'll be attending College Francois-Dupont alongside Adrien. His bodyguard will drive you to and from there each day. Also, Adrien has a busy schedule with his modelling, as well as his martial arts, fencing, and Chinese lessons. I have heard that you are something of an amateur photographer, so perhaps you could accompany Adrien on some of his photoshoots."

Matt nodded. "Yes Uncle. Thank you."

Gabriel nodded.

"In addition, with the current…situation in Paris, if an akuma attack should occur, you are not to leave the school, house, or your current location until it is over, unless the attack is at your current location."

"Yes, Uncle Gabriel."

Taking the hint that they were dismissed after that, the two left the atelier. Adrien glanced over at Matt.

"You okay?"

His cousin nodded back.

"Yeah. Thanks for the heads-up earlier. He's really changed from when we were little."

Adrien nodded.

"So, I guess that you'll be going to school with me."

"Yeah, I'm a little nervous."

"Yeah, but Francois-Dupont is a good school. The students there are mostly really nice, and the teachers are also really cool. I'll introduce you to my friends tomorrow, they'd love to meet you."

Matt smiled at that, before asking a question.

"Hey, are you still friends with Chloe?"

"Yeah, we're still friends, but she's more bratty and snobby to everybody else now. I don't like it, but she's still able to be nice when she needs to be. She'll probably be happy to see you again, too."

The younger boy nodded.

"So long as she's trying."

Adrien chuckled.

"Hey, did I mention that she used to be a superhero like Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"What?"

"Yeah, Queen Bee. She had a Miraculous sometimes, as well as a duplicate costume that she wore for a little while. I actually don't think Ladybug and Chat Noir are letting her be Queen Bee anymore because her identity is public knowledge."

"Huh, I'll need to ask her about that."

"Actually, don't do that. She's really bitter about it and doesn't idolize Ladybug like she did before. She's already been akumatized four times, we don't need a fifth."

"Okay. Still, it would be cool to have superpowers like that. She was still lucky to have the chance."

"Ladybug and Chat Noir sometimes pick other people to wield Miraculouses to help them beat akuma villains. That's how it worked for Chloe, so who knows? Maybe they'll pick you sometime."

"That would be awesome, Adrien."

-Line Break-

Gabriel and Nathalie stood in the atelier. Gabriel glanced at his assistant.

"Nathalie, call Miss Rossi. I believe that I have a new job for her."

Nathalie nodded. "Yes, sir." She started towards her desk to place the call, before turning back to Gabriel. "Sir, are you sure about this? He is your nephew, after-"

Gabriel cut her off.

"I need those Miraculouses. If I make my wish, it's possible that what happened to his parents might also be changed."

Nathalie didn't look convinced, but she continued back to her desk. Gabriel stood alone in the atelier. He'd keep alert, and see what kind of supervillain could be made from a person who'd suffered a loss.

**And, scene! We're getting close to the action, but I want to try and fix my writing in the next chapter. It doesn't really feel right in this one. Anyways, leave a review or PM me letting me know what you like and don't like, and I'll try to write the next chapter sooner so you don't have to wait as long for it as the last time. Until the next chapter!**


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